Does your Mac need antivirus protection?

Digitaltrends.com posted a good article on the question about whether or not your Mac needs an antivirus app.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/does-your-mac-need-antivirus/
It boils down to this:

1. We are the weakest link in security.

2. NEVER install Adobe Flash on your Mac. Google Chrome has Flash built-in, and that is all you need to access a website that requires Flash.

3. Mac Defender is actually malicious software.

4. Some antivirus software is really better than others, and this changes every year.

5. Apple’s own security measures do not check everything.

6. Viruses for Macs are still being discovered and the numbers are on the increase.

I use Sophos Home on all my Apple products. The only threats it has found and protected me against are found in an email, and to date those threats would not have infected my devices because they work only on a Windows computer. That said, I do run Windows under Parallels on my Mac, so it is best that I have something running that will check for viruses. I would be using Sophos Home even if I wasn’t running Windows on my Mac. This is not a recommendation for Sophos Home. There are other free antivirus apps that might work as well or better. The following link offers six options.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-free-antivirus-software-for-mac/

As for any of those apps, you never need to purchase the advanced product unless you are running a small business where you have employees accessing the web on different computers, or unless you believe you really need the extra protection. For family use, the free versions are quite adequate. And NEVER install more than one antivirus app; Malwarebytes is an exception because it is not actually an antivirus app - it just checks for malware, and it works in conjunction with any antivirus app, but it is not an always-on app. You have to periodically run it manually. Sophos Home checks for both viruses and malware.

John R Carter, Sr.